FBI interviews Salinger on TWA, discredits 'friendly
fire' document

November 10, 1996
Web posted at: 10:20 a.m. EST

SMITHTOWN, New York (CNN) -- FBI agents interviewed former
White House press secretary Pierre Salinger at his Paris home
Saturday and dismissed his document claiming
a U.S. Navy missile shot down TWA Flight 800 as nothing more
than Internet chatter.

"The document is the same one we have already seen,
thoroughly
investigated and discounted," said James Kallstrom, head of
the
FBI's criminal investigation.

Kallstrom said Salinger's two-page document is the identical
message that has circulated on the Internet since August. The
message spawned rumors that "friendly fire" was behind the
July 17 explosion of the Paris-bound jumbo jet, which killed
all
230 people aboard.

Federal officials have repeatedly said they have
investigated and disproved the document's allegations. And
after Salinger's claim gave the
theory new life, Kallstrom called a news conference Friday to
label
it "absolute, pure, utter nonsense."

Salinger makes more cover-up allegations

Salinger, appearing live on CNN earlier Saturday, leveled
more accusations that Flight 800 was brought down by a U.S.
Navy missile and hinted that the federal government has
covered up similar information on other air disasters.

Salinger said he met with a man Saturday morning who claimed
he was on an Air France flight that took off from New York
five minutes after TWA Flight 800. Salinger didn't identify
the source by name.

Salinger said the man told him that shortly after takeoff the
Air France pilot made a wild turn to the right. Shaken by
the incident, the passenger went to the cockpit and asked
what was happening. (28 sec./325K AIFF or WAV sound)

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"We can't go over that region. They're sending missiles up
there. It's very dangerous," the pilot allegedly responded.
Salinger suggested that investigators track down the Air
France pilot and interview him.

Salinger, who worked for President John F. Kennedy and was
once an ABC News correspondent, also stood by accusations he
made earlier in the week from Cannes, France, that were based
on documents he said came from a source close to the U.S.
government.

Salinger said they show the jetliner was brought down by
"friendly fire" from a Navy ship. He said dozens of witnesses
have said they heard or saw a missile in the area and that
leading media outlets in France have publicized the reports,
including photos of what appear to be a missile flying near
the jumbo jet.

Asked why investigators would keep such information under
tight wraps, Salinger said the United States had done
something similar before. As an example, he cited the 1988
bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in
which all 259 people aboard and 11 people on the ground were
killed.

Salinger, without citing his source, said the facts pointed
to involvement by Syrians and Iranians. But the bombing was
blamed on Libyans, he said, because the United States and
Britain wanted a Middle East peace accord following the Gulf
War. Connecting Syria to the bombing would look bad, possibly
jeopardizing the accord, he said. (39 sec./411K AIFF or WAV
sound)

General blasts missile theory

Retired Maj. Gen. Perry Smith, who appeared on CNN after
Salinger, said if a missile had been fired the night of the
TWA explosion, the Navy would have a record of an
unaccounted-for missile, remains of the missile would have
been found, and someone on the ship that launched the missile
would have confessed by now.

"If this happened, there would be a number of people who
would be involved in some kind of cover-up in the U.S. Navy
and would have kept that going for a number of months," Smith
said. "It's just not credible to me. The conscience
of somebody would have come forward."

On Friday, officials from the FBI, Navy and National
Transportation Safety Board angrily denied Salinger's
accusations of a cover-up, saying they were "totally without
foundation."

"What we can say is that the United States military did not
shoot a missile at this airplane. The United States military
did not shoot anything," said Kallstrom, who lost a close
friend on Flight 800. An emotional Kallstrom said the FBI
would not hide such information from victims' families or the
public, and that no military ships or planes were "in a
position to be involved."